1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for opening and closing an exit slit for a data carrier used more particularly for a printer or a typewriter wherein by the phrase "data carrier" is meant either a paper sheet, or a magnetic tape, or any other flat and thin element on which data is stored.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a printer is in the form of a parallel-epipedic frame comprising, at its upper face, a constantly open slit, that is to say opening into the free air, and through which leaves the paper after data printing.
However, when a printer is intended to be installed in a location where the reigning external conditions are particularly difficult, formed for example by the presence of dust, dirt, sand or humidity, it is indispensable to sealingly protect the paper exit slit so as to avoid any intrusion of foreign particles into the slit with the risk of damaging the mechanism of the printer.
Now, a printer whose paper exit slit is constantly open, and thus unprotected, does not satisfy the requirement called for by the above-mentioned difficult external conditions.
The aim of the present invention is to comply with this requirement by proposing a device for opening and closing the exit slit, for example of a printer, which is entirely satisfactory, of a simple structure and ensures perfectly sealed protection of the slit while allowing the paper to exit continuously.